Barking Up Love
by bebopin
Summary: Naruto and Sakura had no idea that the dog that followed them from Suna would drive them insane, much less bring them closer than ever before.
1. Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn

OK Folks, Here it is! Barking up love, A NaruSaku story.

I'd never really seen this idea done, so I wanted to take a shot at it. This got done alittle faster than I thought it would, so I'm submitting it about a week early. The second chapter shouldn't take much longer, I've already got alot of the story planned out, chapter by chapter.

I'd also love some feedback! Comments, concerns n' such. I've got a cover art comming for this story as well, so you guys'll enjoy that too ^.^

Well, lets hope I can keep this up! Enjoy!

Beta reader = the awesomeness Darkofthenight

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Some days start with the sun, breeching a painted horizon of greens and pinks, while others start with the bland eye sore of sand, blazing and dull. Inhaling the suffocating heat, Sakura looked out over the vast sea of grain, gritting her teeth and mentally scorning herself for passing up another nights stay. Fingertips pushing a stray strand of pink hair over her forehead protector, the girl turned, just in time to watch her yellow haired counterpart trot up with bounding enthusiasm.

Smiling at the familiar faces that stood at the city gates, Sakura gave a last wave and shouted "Take care, Garra! And Temari, I'll see you at the conference next week!" Slightly deflated at the absence of Kankuro, the ninja turned and began the trek through sand.

Naruto gave Sakura a wide, toothy grin before placing his hands casually behind his head. "Well, that was fun!" he laughed, "But I don't think I want to visit the 'Desert Caves of Sand' again."

To this, Sakura chuckled. "I'll agree, it's not worth the hassle. Who knew Sand had 'desert spiders?" Her eyes shot towards Naruto, who had immediately grimaced and tucked his hand deep into his pockets.

"Spiders freak me out," He grumbled, kicking a large sand clump from their path.

"I know. Don't worry, mission's over. Now it's time for a much needed week of rest. It was nice seeing everyone again. I mean, I know Temari visits Shikamaru pretty often, but I miss Garra and Kankuro. He didn't come to see us off…" She rambled, fingertips tapping on her bottom lip before shrugging it off and trekking onward.

"So, breakdown. Mission was a success. We even got done a few days early…"

"Yeah," replied Sakura. "And I got to talk to Temari about Shikamaru."

Naruto grinned, jumping in front and facing her, walking backwards.

"They're dating, aren't they? He wouldn't tell me anything!"

Sakura just batted him with her hand and laughed.

"Well, you know how he is. And yeah, Temari's still gonna be Leaf's Sand representative, but she may be moving! Isnt that great?"

Naruto just made a scrunched up face and took his place back beside Sakura. " Uh…"

"What, you don't like Temari? I though you had a crush on her!" Sakura teased, giving him a playful grin.

"Yeah right. All I said was that her hair was nice. How is that even a compliment?"

The two newly appointed jounin officers slowly made their way towards the outer tree line of Sand, rambling on about 'Ino's new crush' or the new ramen flavor at Ichiraku's. They chatted and touched like long time lovers, and to the untrained eye, it would seem harmless and coy. However, the tension was thick, and there was an air of mystery surrounding as to what and who these two were.

She would graze his bare arms with want, but jump at his soft, clever glare. Yes, these two, they were complicated.

But complicated is what makes for an interesting story.

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Naruto was nervous, but kept it under wraps for the time being. They had been traveling for a few hours, and at first, nothing seemed out the ordinary. However, an instinctive feeling of obscure doom began lingering. It felt as if they were being followed, perhaps from a good distance away because the only chakra signals he sensed were animal.

It was when they reached the tree line that he decided to say something.

"Sakura..."

"I know," she said.

"Wait…what?" Naruto's face fell into confusion, while jumping in front of her, causing the female ninja to stop. Irritated, she pushed him to the side.

"Something's been following us, but it's small, and really confusing in it's movements. Whatever it is…" She explained, stretching her arms up. "I'd say its untrained and no match for us."

Seeing the small smirk that played on her features, Naruto relaxed, and rolled his shoulders. "Yeah, we'd take him." He then crouched down, as if he were about to pounce "And we'd tear him apart!"

Sakura just laughed at the still very immature antics of her best friend. "Yeah yeah, we aren't the deadly duo for nothing. Come on, letss find a spot to settle down for the night. It's getting dark, and I'm exhausted from coming through all that sand. I don't care how many times we have to go to Sand, I'm never going to get used it."

"Aw, Sakura. I was just playin' around." At this, Naruto began an infectious grin that traveled to his counterpart quickly. Sakura just leaned over and gave him a nudge on the arm, before instructing him to unpack and set up camp.

Doing so quickly, they worked in a comfortable silence before settling down before a fire pit.

"Alright, I'm going to find a spring nearby and bathe, I've got sand everywhere." Sakura spoke as she stood.

"Yeah, that's fine," Naruto agreed, scratching the back of his head as he observed their campsite one more time to finalize it's design. " I'm gonna build us a fire and think of dinner."

"Sounds good," she murmured, grabbing her pack and heading off the trail towards the smell of water. Stopping, she turned. "And save the ramen for another day, Hopefully if the food we have lasts long enough, we won't have to eat it." Disappearing before he could answer, she couldn't help but laugh out loud as Naruto's familiar cursing followed her towards the stream.

Finding the water didn't take long, since the path from Leaf and Sand virtually followed it. Finding a quick spot to set her things, Sakura quickly stripped and made her way into the cold water. Grimacing at it's temperature, she worked fast to get her bath over.

Being spring, the air was wonderful and warm, but had yet to heat the water up, making bathing on missions one of the more difficult tasks.

"Ugh." She inhaled deeply. "Why does it have to be so cold?"

Diving into the stream, Sakura worked fast. Retreating from the stream, Sakura moved to grab her towel, before stopping abruptly.

There, sitting on her towel, was a small white animal.

Staring at it for a few seconds, eyes wide, she then did what any other highly trained ninja would do.

She screamed.

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OK, so before the story goes on any further, I guess I should explain myself, and give you a little introduction. The story isn't too long, just a typical god falls from the radar kinda thing,

First off, I'm Cupid.

Yes…That Cupid. Bow and arrows, tiny hearts, kid in a diaper.

The Romans never could get their ideas straight, but that's beside the point. I'm not here to give you a history lesson. Well, not a large one, at least.

OK, rundown of what I am. Initially, I am the essence of love, taken physically form. What you have to understand, is that I am not a part of nature. Zeus did not create me.

Man did.

When Adam met Eve, Bam! I existed.

Fast forward. Many different cultures have worshipped me. I never really got into it like the others, not really my style. I was created to do something. Not sit around and be fawned over.

After the fall of the roman empire, the Byzantines stepped in and I lost my place in the books, so I took to a life of solitude, and basically traveled around quietly, seeing the world, enjoying the small things.

I don't do much work anymore. I'm getting kind of old, so my judgment's a little off. I don't even carry around my arrows. There's really no need.

Men nowadays have learned to swoon a women in so many different ways. It's amazing. It's like watching a cavemen grow up to be Casanova. All in all, I am quite proud my job has become a bit easier.

But as time moved on, traveling the world was getting a bit hard to do. You get a lot of questions asked when you're a tiny cherub.

So I decided to ask Zeus for a favor. He owed me…a lot. Zeus was rather promiscuous.

Zeus said the best way to walk around Earth was to take the form of a human. I didn't like that idea. I enjoy flying under the radar. So he gave me a spell that would turn me into a dog.

Great trick, huh?

Turns out, I can't change back.

Zeus thought it was funny as hell.

Moral of the story, Zeus is an ass.

So now I'm stuck on Earth as a dog. A very adorable dog, mind you. A purebred westie.

I'd met one awhile back while in the area helping out King William the second with a 'woman' issue.

So, when I left Olympus, I wasn't too happy. Basically a tiny, white, terrier looking for some ankles to bite. But, I decided to travel east, and ran into this place called Sand.

I'd heard of the eastern gods and demons before, but the leader of this village had one locked inside of him. One of the deadly nine. Wicked bad guys if you ask me. From what I understand, those nine demons are what chased the Titans our way.

But he sympathized with me and gave me a place to hunker down.

A couple years in Sand and I was dog tired of the place (Get it? I'm a dog! Oh, you're gonna love me by the end of this story.), and was looking for a way to exit.

That's when I met Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno.

Maybe I was just eager to get out of the Hidden Sand Village, or maybe I'm just getting old, but when I saw them, I knew I had to act.

But see, most people can't see through the art of match making. It's not about pointing a love arrow at someone and hoping the next person they see is you.

No! It's got finesse, timing, ability! It's passion and poise!

Match making is like a game of chess. Every move calculated ten steps ahead.

So, while following them through the desert, I planned.

And now, as I sit atop the female's only towel, I move my first pawn.

Let the games begin…


	2. Dare I Say Your Name

Well, here it is, The second chapter.

Disclaimer : I dont own any of these characters...except carbon...HE IS MINE!

_-Cheer up and dry your damp eyes __and tell me when it rains  
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins-_

_Owl City, Rainbow Veins_

* * *

"NARUTO" Sakura screeched , mouth agape, as she caught the tail end of him bursting through the forest and into the creek clearing.

"Sakura-chan!"

Naruto then leapt forward, hands out to grab and sweep her away from possible danger.

That was, until he saw that she was naked.

Very naked.

The surprise caused him to balk, and crash into her with a loud splash.

Giving a rough shake of his head, Naruto raised up quickly, eyes wide and frantic, until he saw the position in which he landed.

Our ninja was straddling his partner. His naked partner, who was just as wide eyed, but quickly becoming furious and red.

Not a very quick thinker, Naruto just stared, unsure of what to do, considering his situation. Sporting a nervous smile, he just stuttered instead of fleeing.

"D..d…did you c..call f…for me Sakura-ch…"

"UZUMAKI!" She screeched while reaching back and landing a quick, effective punch. He flew back onto the bank, and then took out a few trees, causing the entire fiasco to come crashing down in a noisy cloud of dust and debris.

"You Pervert!" Sakura screamed "How DARE you come barging in on me while I was taking my bath, of all the stupid, ridiculous…" the woman went on, cursing and yelling, with no sign of letting up, or giving our hero any sort of a break.

Standing, Naruto rubbed the side of his now bruised jaw before glaring towards the white creature that must have frightened Sakura in the first place. Focusing his disoriented blue eyes upon the terrier, the ninja stared a bit, trying to grab consciousness before it ran away.

"It's just a lost dog…" He grumbled, realizing he was afraid to look up and towards the river, even though he was out of sight, but still in earshot.

"Sakura!" he cried, wincing, "Im sorry, I just heard you screamin' and I came running!"

"Oh, you're gonna be sorry, you degenerate sorry excuse for a ninja"

Naruto just groaned and hung his head, brow creased, working hard to forget the image of Sakura from his head, lest he be beaten for perverted thoughts.

This hadn't been the first time it had happened. The two had been working with each other since their genin team, practically inseparable, and even though getting a peek at Sakura had caused some serious gears to crank in his head, he would have rather not had the inevitable beating.

Closing his eyes, he let out a long distraught sigh before giving a rapid shake of his head.

"I'm just gonna leave, so you can get your towel." he grumbled rather submissively.

All he got in response was a loud 'humph', followed by inaudible cursing.

Opening his eyes, he was instantly greeted with the quizzical face of the white, tattered looking dog, inches in front of him. Jumping back, he gave a startled shout before eyeing it carefully.

"Jeez, dog I didn't even hear you come up." Relaxing a bit, he gathered his wits and stood up, then leaned down to give the pooch a pat. "Ok, you can be on your way now." Naruto smiled and turned to make his way back towards camp. With a scrunch of his face, Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a slow, exhausted exhale. It was not going to be a good night.

Stopping, he glared over his shoulder, letting a quick, rather promiscuous thought enter his head, before a soft thud was felt on the calf of his leg.

Looking down, the return glare of the small white dog was met, and immediately it sat, letting its small but fat tail scoot quickly across the dirt.

Naruto just laughed and bent over, giving the animal a soft scratch behind his upright ears. "You like me, do ya?" He asked, not expecting the answer to come in the form of a tongue across the cheek. Surprised, he stood up, giving the animal a quick once over.

"I dunno, maybe you're hungry" reaching up to scratch the backside of his head, he made a glance towards Sakura's position at the creek, and the camps position in the woods.

"I'm not sure if Sakura-chan would like that, you scared her pretty good." Naruto found himself smiling down at the bedraggled terrier, when he spotted a flashed of red near its neck.

Fearing the canine was hurt, he once again bent down to inspect it, cooing at the dog softly.

'It's alright little guy, I just wanna see how bad you're hurt." As his fingers sifted through the wiry white fur, he felt the absence of clumpy dried blood, and the rough feel of nylon.

"A collar?"

Leaning in for a closer look, Naruto parted the thick hair to expose a deep red nylon collar.

Suddenly, a familiar sadness filled naruto.

"You're lost?"

He then felt the cold smooth texture of metal, and pulled it a bit closer, only to see a golden medallion, blank on one side, and the other sporting a rather strange symbol.

A large heart, etched into the metal, being pierced by arrows, opposite one another.

Facing scrunching to one side in thought, Naruto just sighted, torn at the thought of leaving the small animal in the woods alone.

The dog just glared knowingly towards the boy's large blue eyes, while his paw reached up to land on Naruto's left hand.

A gesture for help, he'd decided.

"Ok," he stated while standing "I'll take you back to camp with us and send Gaara a note. Sand is the closest village, so that's gotta be where you're from, plus you're covered in it"

Instantly, the dog began a series of random wiggles and jumps, bouncing around enthusiastically, while Naruto just laughed at its antics.

"Aw don't worry little guy, we'll find your home and get you there safe and sound."

With that he turned and called the dog along, impressed by its willingness to follow.

What Naruto did not see, however, was the sly smirk displayed on the animal's features, eyes narrowed and muzzle pulled into a tight lipped doggy smile. Looking over its shoulder, the pup contemplated and let the cogs of his game begin the slow act of movement. This was going well.

Returning to Naruto's heels, the dog trekked behind him with loyal admiration, something any lost, well adjusted dog would do.

"Wow you're a good little guy" He stated, watching the pup tag close beside him, "Maybe we have some food at camp we can give you"

At this, the dogs pace seemed to quicken, the thought of food pressing them both forward with eager anticipation.

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Sakura's walk from the creek to camp was not a pleasant one.

Still fuming over earlier events. The female ninja knew Naruto wasn't at fault, he was just coming to her aid, however, it had embarrassed and humiliated her, and she didn't handle those types of situations very well.

Face flushed, she huffed loudly, letting fist her fist curl into a tight ball. That tiny white animal had frightened her, she hadn't even heard it sneak up, or felt a chakra presence. Meaning that it could only be the manifestation of evil. Mentally thanking the skies for riding herself of the animal, as she had not seen it since witnessing it defile her towel, she just sighed and began putting the day's events behind her.

'However hard that may be.'Sakura thought with a grimace

Moving through the forest at a slow pace, she parted some limbs and entered the camp site clearing.

Instantly, she felt a thick, enveloping tension surround her, similar to the feeling you get before receiving bad news.

Eyes narrowing, she searched the site for Naruto, and found him crouched beside the kindling fire, barely able to get it going.

Glaring at him cautiously, Sakura tampered with the idea of slamming her fist into the side of his face for the second time that evening, but decided against it and began trying to hide the blush on her cheeks.

Anger had become such a defense mechanism for the girl, a bad habit she was currently in the process of trying to break.

When Naruto noticed her arrival, his face also went crimson while fingers fumbled at poking a stick towards the smoldering pile of ash.

"Um…" He began to fumble "I have some rice ready…" A pause "I guess…"

It was around that particular time, that the familiar animal that followed naruto back to camp peeked from around his savior.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT?!" Sakura wailed, pointing at the dog to demand answers. "That Evil creature is following me!"

Naruto first reaction was to jump up, and blame the dog for plaguing poor Sakura and giving her grief, but instead, opted for a more compassionate route.

Naruto turned to give the animal a pat before returning his gaze to Sakura. "Oh, it's just a dog" He said with a bit of hesitation in his voice.

"It just followed me here."

"Wipe that grin off your face, Uzumaki. You brought it here to torture me!"

"I did not!" He countered, standing and looking rather defeated. "It's just a lost puppy, it probably followed us from Sand and I just wanna get it home."

The dog gave a meek bark before making its way towards Sakura. With a waddling movement, it paddled a circle around her legs, all the while under her unnerving glare.

"It looks like an overgrown rat." She stated "Are you sure it's lost?"

"Well." Naruto's hand reached to rub the back of his head, a nervous habit

"It's got a collar, but not really any tags."

"What do you mean, 'not really'? "

Leaning down cautiously, Sakura bit the inside of her lip, eyeing the creature with a pause, as if deciding whether or not she wanted to touch it.

Finally reaching out, she couldn't help but smiled when the dog leaned into her touch, small tail sweeping across the ground in quick, rapid movements.

"It's got this one tag, with some weird symbol on it, a heart with these arrows going through it."

"Cupid." Sakura stated instantly, obviously reciting some random book fact as she frequently did

"That's the symbol for Cupid." She now held the small medallion between 2 fingers, examining it herself.

"It's a figure in Greek mythology, something about the God of love, it's been awhile since I read up on stuff like that though."

After saying its name, the little dog jumped up, performing a routine series of bounces and barking.

Laughing, Sakura calmed it down by scratching the thick spot behind its right ear. "I think that might be its name."

Watching the genuine smile displayed on Sakura's face was infectious, and soon Naruto left his post beside the fire to join her. He also couldn't help the small blush that snuck up on him while doing so.

Sure Sakura was his longtime crush, but things like that come and go. A real relationship couldn't be developed on how pretty you thought a girl was in middle school. But then again, they were close, some would say a bit too close, but that's how you were with your team, wasn't it? He and Sakura had only ever been separated for missions and training a few times, and their fighting abilities had grown and developed to accent each other's.

As a working cell, they were unbeatable.

Even out of the field, they worked better together. They had lunch together, did laundry together, watched movies, hung out. It didn't take much observance to understand how close they were.

Sighing, Naruto just pushed aside his thoughts of sweeping Sakura off her feet and returned to reality.

He knew better.

It was here that Naruto realized Cupid had moved from Sakura's touch to his, letting his cold nose nudge at Naruto's hand, wholeheartedly demanding attention.

"I still don't trust him." Sakura stated while standing up

"You know what they say about wandering dogs, he could have rabies or a number of other harmful viruses."

"I'm a wandering person, do I have those things?" Naruto asked, playing dumb and lightening the mood.

It earned him a swift conk to the head.

"I wouldn't put it past you, I may have to check you for all kinds of nasty things when we get home, Animals like you attract all kinds of horrible things." Sakura stated, turning her back to him and walking towards the fire with her arms crossed over her chest.

"As long as it's you, and that it's at your place, and involves dinner."

Naruto ducked as a kunai whizzed past his head, forging deeply into a tree behind him. The boy leaned forward and whispered to Cupid, "She's getting better, but don't worry I won't let her hurt you". It was here, that Naruto could have sworn the dog gave him a look of relief, soft whiskered muzzle opened and panting, and Naruto decided that this was his smile.

"Let's go get some rice." he said while standing and brushing off his left arm. "All we have is rice, I hope that's ok."

Cupid seemed more than content with gobbling up everything in his bowl, plus all leftovers.

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Then next day dawned early for the ninjas, but slow and lazy. They were in no hurry to get home, and mornings like these seemed both peaceful and relaxing.

Sakura would smile softly, stretching inside her sleeping roll, enjoying the brisk feel of a cool, spring morning.

This is, until she opened her eyes.

Several inches in front of her face, was Cupid, staring at her with big, ebony orbs, while whiskers fluffed around his nose. When, he noticed that she had awakened, the dog opened his mouth and formed a big dog smile, tongue lolling out past his lips coming extremely close to Sakura's cheek.

Sakura shot up quickly, taking her hands and shoving the dog into Naruto's sleeping roll.

Cupid, thinking that this was a great game, instantly began jumping up, on, and over him in a crazy attempt to wake Naruto.

"Sheesh, Naruto! That dog is going to eat me!" She grunted, looking down at the sandy spot on the bottom of her blankets, "And he used me as a bed!" the female said, sounding horrified.

Leaning up, the yellow haired boy simple scooped the puppy into his arms, and coddled it. "Aw, did a grumpy Sakura-chan wake you up?" The boy would coo, sneaking glances to his colleague who was desperately shaking out her bed covers. "If you're lucky" He continued

"She might make us some breakfast."

"Pfft, if he's lucky I won't make him for breakfast."

Beginning the busy task of putting away their things, Sakura worked on cleaning up the campsite and getting ready for a slow departure while Naruto went to the river for a quick bath.

Returning, the pink haired ninja had a breakfast of hot ramen for Naruto and Cupid, while she ate some dried fruits.

Starting their trek towards home, the 3 walked at a slow, comfortable pace, while enjoying the warm day, and relaxing sunshine.

"You know…" Naruto began, glaring up at the sky "Cupid's a pretty funny name." There would be a pause, though neither noticed the dog stop in its tracks and glare with narrowed eyes towards them.

"I mean, it's such an odd name, not from around here…"

Sakura would begin to ponder this to, but didn't think much of it. Giving a flip of her hand, the ninja huffed. "You're thinking intuitively about a dog's name, however you constantly run into stupid traps and always seen to find yourself injured on missions." Sakura sneered and pinched his left bicep, teal eyes narrowing.

"You're so weird Naruto"

His face would scrunch together, almost hurt, before a strong rebuttal emerged "I'm not strange, I've just had time to think about it, and if you really look at him. He doesn't look like anything from around here."

This made Sakura stop, and as she would turn, slowly, to glare at the dog with a planted seed of doubt in her mind, she began to worry. What if it's a trap? Stranger things have happened? How would we get out of this mess if this is some kind of weird, ninjutsu?

However, she was met with the sight of Cupid, urinating on a bush.

"Oh for god's sake!" She cried, whipping around and stomping forward, face flushed.

"Oh Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, trotting after her in a desperate measure to calm the beast "The poor little thing just had to go..."

"Don't say it!"

"But Sakura-chaaaan!"

The sounds of their bickering would carry on, Cupid however, stayed behind. Exhaling a held breath, the dog rubbed its ear with the back of its forepaw, letting his tiny black nose tell him how far away his traveling companions were.

'This kid is smarter than I realized' he would muse, a simple, but rather unattractive smile pulling at his muzzle 'and the girl is…' the dog deflated, letting his ears fall lip and dark claws press into the ground '…difficult'

'Ive got to be careful, they must not find out what I really am.'Casting a glance over his shoulder, Cupid sighed. 'A new journey always means that another has ended'

Cupid's face pulled into what could be defined as a sarcastic grin.

'Those philosophy quacks get me every time'the dog would think with a laugh.

Standing, Cupid shook off the excess dirt left by sitting on the ground and set off at a fast, waddling trot towards the ninja, small, thick tail erect and a determine look on his small, westie face, trying to think of only positive, and productive thoughts, yet the only one he could muster was…

'I've got a lot of work to do…'

* * *

This took me longer than expected, but please be patient with this story, its comming along, but RL gets in the way of it.

ENJOY!


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